Treat Us Like Dogs and We Will Become Wolves

October 15, 2014

In this latest work from Chute (The Beans of Egypt, Maine), newspaper reporter Ivy Morelli investigates the Home Place Settlement in Maine, a collective that exists outside the social and economic norms of modern America under the charismatic but troubled leadership of Gordon St. Onge. What Ivy finds is more nuanced and complex than the tempting soundbites of "cult" or "militia"; despite some unsavory aspects of Settlement life, it's hard to argue that St. Onge and his followers don't have a point about the destructive nature of much of the media and the detrimental effects on ordinary citizens of corporate and political corruption. Unfortunately, the sympathetic story Ivy relates is the first in a chain of events that threatens to break down the settlement way of life. This big, sprawling, messy, tour de force employs multiple narrators (including space aliens) and metafictional techniques. Though she does evolve, Ivy's character is so annoying and shallow that it's something of a relief when she takes a backseat in the last half of the novel and other characters emerge. VERDICT At turns funny, moving, and disturbing, this book will challenge readers to check their assumptions about how people choose to live in today's society.--Christine DeZelar-Tiedman, Univ. of Minnesota Libs., Minneapolis

Copyright 2014 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

October 15, 2014
It's the summer of 1999 at the school on Heart's Content Road, and there are rumors of rampant violence, weapons hoarding, and child abuse. It's the perfect story for budding journalist Ivy Morelli. Her plan is to meet Gordon St. Onge, the mysterious leader of the school, who is also known as the prophet. Once Ivy immerses herself in the story, she finds herself increasingly drawn to Gordon, who is also a magnet for Brianna, a young and gifted girl. As both women settle into communal life, the publication of Ivy's article sends shock waves throughout the settlement and into the community at large. Chute returns once again to her beloved school in this second in a projected series of five novels. As in The School on Heart's Content Road (2008), the story is told from multiple points of view. Although lengthy, Chute's latest is a complex, multilayered story worth digging into, which explores, among other things, poverty, democracy in America, and the role of community in helping those living on the fringe of society take even the tiniest steps forward.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2014, American Library Association.)

October 1, 2014
Second volume in a planned series about the St. Onge Settlement (The School on Heart's Content Road, 2008, etc.), a collective of disaffected have-nots in North Egypt, Maine. At first we see the settlement and its charismatic leader, Gordon St. Onge, mostly through the eyes of Record Sun feature writer Ivy Morelli, who receives multiple phone messages warning of child abuse, drugs, guns, religious brainwashing, and anything else the anonymous callers think might prompt her to visit the place and expose its nefariousness. In the scornful eyes of Gordon and other settlement members given voice in this polyphonic novel (which also includes the comments of extraterrestrial "grays" we could do without), Ivy is a media lackey of the ruling class, alternately dishing out human-interest pabulum and scary crime stories to keep the masses frightened and passive. In a country that prefers to ignore the existence of social classes, Chute's contempt for such air-brushing is bracing, as is her refusal to neaten up her decidedly flawed male protagonist's opinions and actions. "There is only left or right down here among us crawling grubs," Gordon sneers. "[A]t the top...there is the unity of ideology." He despises corporations and well-meaning liberals equally. He also dislikes feminists and has an awful lot of "wives" with an awful lot of babies; his newest spouse, Brianna Vandermast, is only 15. Brianna is no victim, however; she goads Gordon to move beyond creating an alternate world at the settlement and directly challenge the political system that pretends to serve democracy. This provokes sinister undercover servants of the powers that be to make use of Gordon's messy personal life to manipulate another rebellious proletarian into doing their dirty work. The plot, the prose and the political pronouncements are as over-the-top as they often are in Chute's work-which by no means negates the value of her career-long mission to show the elite what people at the bottom of the heap think of the American dream. Bottom line: They're not fooled.

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